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Does anyone feel very strongly that any of these brands is much better/worse that the others?

I am leaning toward Viking because: 1) All the burners max out AND do a low simmer; 2) It is available in eight or so colors, whereas it appears that all the others are stainless only.

I think that Viking and Wolf are roughly equivalent. Thermador, based on my experience, sucks. The Thermador oven that we have is the single most problematic appliance in our house, and it is not even close. Again, and not to beat a dead horse, I think that gas ovens are fine. Most, if not all, fine restaurants use them. They are simple and durable. I worry about dual fuel, and have never found something that I could not cook in a gas oven.

My kitchen is white lacquer and stainless steel, so I didn't really consider another color. If you need color, then Wolf would not be the right choice.

I'm thinking that Viking would be your best choice. We have one in the family, and it cooks great, but requires some effort to keep it shiny. The best burner I've ever cooked on was a classic Vulcan, with the black steel face. Amazing cooktop.

For color, I think stainless is a little too trendy right now, so I would avoid it for that reason.

I'm thinking that Viking would be your best choice. We have one in the family, and it cooks great, but requires some effort to keep it shiny. The best burner I've ever cooked on was a classic Vulcan, with the black steel face. Amazing cooktop. For color, I think stainless is a little too trendy right now, so I would avoid it for that reason. but vulcan, ahh sweet vulcan . . . http://www.vulcanhart.com/specs/specs-36SL.pdf My other choice would be an Aga (up to 15 colors), but I don't know how well it does on the stovetop front. http://www.aga-ranges.com/models/legacy36.cfm Good luck, and have fun.
I would respectfully disagree with stainless being trendy. Going with a peach colored stove might make sense to you today......but you will walk into your kitchen some morning and wonder....what the hell was I thinking when I bought THAT. With a stainless stove you can change out your cabinets, counter tops, etc with no worrys about "matching" the range. I think stainless gives you a better chance of the kitchen not looking "dated" in a few years. We all have friends with European kitchens, that looked just like something they saw in a magazine, that now look old and out of style. Ranges are like good suits....the new and fancy are rarely better than the tried and true.

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I did look at the Aga. I was intrigued. But it is impractical for a number of reasons. The biggest drawback is that there are no burners, and one really needs to learn to cook the way the Aga wants you to. Traditional techniques don't work. I don't think I'm ready to start all over.

I did look at the Aga. I was intrigued. But it is impractical for a number of reasons. The biggest drawback is that there are no burners, and one really needs to learn to cook the way the Aga wants you to. Traditional techniques don't work. I don't think I'm ready to start all over.

you want to hear impractical? a friend of mine got one in israel, and they sent him a technitian from the UK to install it.

I have known 2 people with AGAs, and they loved them. I honestly don't know how much learning is involved, as one of the guys was a serious foodie and the other had grown up with one. so maybe you are right. I know that when I buy a range for a house, the AGA is what I would like to have.

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When we were building I spent alot of time researching ranges. Admittedly, our priorities might have been different and it was almost ten years ago, but we came down to Viking, Thermador, and DCS (Dynamic Cooking Systems). In the end we got the Thermador PRSE486GGLS (I still know the model number, how sad is that?) -- a dual fuel six-burner plus grill.

Some of the factors that influenced the decision were:

Wanting to go low enough to melt chocolate/hold very delicate sauces without scorching --the Therm only does that on two burners, and that has not been an issue);

Goriously high heat for stir-frying, searing, and boiling water (converted to propane, the Therm had higher BTU output than either contender)

I liked the idea of a griddle, but didn't want to lose a pair of burners (I've had six going for breakfast), so just buy a good two-burner griddle pan and voila! Viking makes a custom griddle for their stoves, in fact

Only Therm and DCS self-cleaned at the time, which is a nice feature.

I can't contrast sealed burners with open burner trays, but the only thing I can note is that really cleaning the cooktop requires a vaccuum, masking tape, and oven cleaner. Even so, they simply won't stay pristine with hard use.

By all means, the more CFMs you can draw with the hood the better. We pull 1200 and sometimes it's not enough. Flambes tend to send up invisible particles that set off the smoke alarms. Further, I am shocked how much oil winds up in the hood grates that would otherwise be on, well, everything.

No matter which brand you choose -- you want the high backsplash, and the keep hot shelf on top is awesome for tossing pans and lids upon, and coupled with heat lamps for warming plates or when your timing is a wee bit off is superb.

It's purely subjective and prejudiced, but one of the reasons we didn't go Viking was due to its cachet as the yuppie stove of the moment (back then Viking was really doing a blitz in that department).

That's all that occurs to me at the moment. By all means go and find working demonstrator models, and know this -- I'm sure any of them will be a real source of pleasure if you enjoy preparing food.

Enjoy!

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this post may not be my own. I may adopt them for reasons including, but not limited to, amusement, argument, or research.